[Elise]

It wasn't easy to find an anka taxi, but thankfully Elise and Moses were able to find one in New Alexandria. After a quick conversation and an exchange of currency with the merchant, Elise and Moses stepped onto the carrier and took off. On the way to the mountains, Elise was fascinated by the sight of the bright green land below, as well as the sensation of flying with the anka. This was her first time flying in Elysia, and so she stared into the skies with wide eyes. Flying on an airplane was completely different than flying on an anka, she realized. Sometime during the flight, she turned toward Moses to make some small talk. Eventually, Elise took out a map to study. There weren't many trails in the Dusky Mountains, but she thought she found some that might help lead to the temple.

They reached the mountains in a decent amount of time, and the taxi dropped them off in one of the small villages that sat a little above the base of the mountain. As she stepped out of the taxi, Elise took a good minute just looking around. It was a very small town and she guessed there were fewer than a hundred people living in it. As she glanced around, she noted stores for mining supplies, a jewelry store, and a hotel for traveling traders. People bustled about, and many of them carried boxes of what Elise knew was freshly mined ore. Her eyes followed the gems with interest, and she knew that she'd have to return again. Perhaps she'd splurge her money on a birthday gift for herself.

She took a quick look behind her to see if Moses had gotten off the taxi, and then she stepped into the crowd. It was easy to tell from the sloping ground which way would take her out of the town and up the mountains. She walked briskly toward that direction, assuming that Moses would follow. “I’ve brought two day’s worth of food, water, and a blanket for myself. Do you need to get any last minute supplies?”

((OOC: I godmodded Moses in the first paragraph in order to make the trip faster. Please tell me if you mind and I'll edit it. ^__^))

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

The trip had been amazing. They had seen everything so high up. He was happy with the choice of going in the taxi. He also had some brief chats with Elise on the way. She was such a pleasant girl. He hoped he could get some real conversation out of her later. find out the nitty gritty, like, where she was from or if she had a boyfriend. His instincts were that she didn't seeing as she was more than willing to embark on an adventure with a man on her own. Moses realised he had been smiling the whole trip, as well as when they had just gotten off. Moses looked around. the town was small and plain but it had a sense of community about it that was charming.

“I’ve brought two day’s worth of food, water, and a blanket for myself. Do you need to get any last minute supplies?”

"Wha- oh, yeah I mean no, I'm fine I've got bread and water and stuff, I'm good." He smiled then felt a little awkward, Damn, she had brought a blanket! Moses hadn't thought about bringing one. he normally used his big coat for warmth, yet he had completely forgotten that this trip could last more than one night. A blanket would have been a real good idea if he had thought of it. The conversation had turned quiet, he better say something quick. "Hey, you seem to know where your going. Have you been here before or something?"

((OOC: the god mod was fine : ) keep up the good work. Thought I'd keep the last line the same, and make things a little easier.))

[Elise]

As Moses stammered a bit from her question, Elise paused to make sure that he was okay in terms of supplies. Once sure, she nodded to show that she’d heard him.

Hearing his question about her direction sense, she smiled in a cheerful manner and hoped he was merely trying to start conversation. Grinning impishly, she replied, “Nope. I’ve never been here, so I’m just going toward where I think is right. The town's small enough so I’m not worried about getting lost…” She glanced upward where the mountains seem to be getting higher and said, “Anyway, I guess we're travelling uphill?”

Her ‘street smarts’ were decent enough for her to travel in a city, but her wilderness navigation was only so-so. She just hoped that Moses had a better sense of the temple’s location than she did. She looked toward Moses with another smile and asked, “So about this temple we’re going to…do you know what kind it is? Anyeli? Or one dedicated to Xanth? Or one from a very old civilization? I wonder what stuff it’ll have…” Seriously, the excitement of adventure and treasure was getting to her, and her smile widened into a grin.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

Moses was surprised to know she'd never been here before. The town was small so he found he could concentrate allot more than in a city, usually he would be overcome with emotions from all directions but this being a small town as it was meant he could think with ease. A gust of wind blew past, as it did Moses realised how cold it was getting. He started rummaging through his bag while they walked and took out his coat and put it on. He'd forgotten the Duskies were at winter, otherwise he'd have traveled with warmer clothes. Bloody fool.

“I think we’re almost at the river. So about this temple we’re going to…do you know what kind it is? Anyeli? Xanth? Or one from a very old civilization? I wonder what stuff it’ll have…”

Moses was a little thrown off by the question, he hadn't thought about it. "I think its ancient, the statue that we're looking for is apparently of a beast only known to the village itself and has never been discovered before. There is big profit available if its found." just the thought of that statue caused him to begin drooling...He shook his head and carried on. "So it'll be really interesting to see what it looks like. That is to say, if we find it. I get allot of no show treasures. Its annoying because about forty percent of the time its s true story, and I'll find the ruins of a town or something but no treasure, its already been taken." Moses failed to mention how he had gone rampant after finding out the others were a complete lie and had been unable to stop himself from flying into a rage. He suddenly became very worried if this story was a lie. If it was there could be bad side effects.

As they approached the beginnings of an out of town trail, he noticed feelings of excitement. He looked around everyone seemed pretty laid back, carrying their boxes, walking with their children. He couldn't tell where it was coming from. He thought it was strange. He turned back to look at Elise and the look on her face made it evident. She was smiling ecstatically. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before. If she was this exited now, he wondered what she would be like later on in the quest. Moses just smiled at the thought. She was a good sport.

"This trail should take us up the main sort of route. There's a landmark, some sort of arch with markings of strange animals engraved, once we find that we have to leave the main trail and follow another lesser trail to our destination."

[Elise]

Moses started to rummage through his bag, so Elise shifted her weight to one foot and waited for him to get whatever he was getting. It was a coat, and Elise was again reminded about how cold it would get at night. The jacket she had on right now was warm enough for now, but she’d probably end up wearing everything she packed by nightfall. At least she’d brought plenty of scarves…they were one of her favorite accessories.

Hearing about the ancient statue of a beast, Elise wondered if the thing was anything she might have read about. But it couldn’t be if the creature was known only to the village. It was probably one of those things used to scare children into behaving properly anyway. But it was interesting to hear about.

Really, if Moses had heard about the temple at a bar from a stranger, the temple was probably already well known. Chances were that somebody’s already been there, and that there would be nothing to discover but ruined ruins. Still, perhaps they’d discover another section that others have missed. It was worth the try.

She nodded in agreement with Moses and replied, “Well maybe Lady Luck’s on our side and nobody’s been there before. And even if they have, they could have missed whole sections…there are so many things that can be hidden by snow.” She hoped that her words were optimistic enough. It wouldn't be good for them if they already felt doubtful at the beginning of the journey.

They reached a trail outside of town and began to climb upward. Moses glanced toward her, perhaps wondering if she was ready to follow. She hastened her pace until she was walking beside him. The trail was wide enough for both of them to be walking side by side. It was probably a main trail for travelling carts.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

As they walked he thought about what she had said. He shrugged. She could be right, he hoped she was. He started thinking about something he could spark a conversation with her about. He thought about some of his past travels. He decided not to talk about them, seeing as they had all turned out to be disasters. He scowled inwardly at the thought. He could feel Elise's excitement and her anticipation. He knew it was her since they were the only ones around, no wait, a cart passed them by. Now they were. Moses guessed the trail wasn't used very often in the winter, only when needed for vital trade. Unneeded travels to bigger towns near by in winter were probably a sort of village taboo. He could feel the cold about around him. He took a breath, the air was pure and felt crisp on his lungs. Luckily his coat was good for keeping heat in, so he doubted he'd get cold too quick. If worst came to worst he'd nab a jumper from Elise and wear it under his coat. That's if she carried a spare jumper. Damned expectations.

An amusing thought occurred to Moses. "Yeah, I wonder what the beast looks like, probably twelve feet tall with a pink flabby face and pig eyes and tentacles for fingers and twelve feet with seven toes on each foot.and thirteen nipples for its children to suckle on." Moses made a gesture with his hand as if he were holding an imaginary breast and made a strange face whilst pretending to suck. He stopped the gesture abruptly. He tried to chuckle, and nudged Elise. "What do you think?" He gave her a smile, hoping he hadn't offended her, he wasn't often in the company of women and she may have found him a little too...boisterous.

[Elise]

To imagine a twelve feet tall pig with tentacles was hilarious, and after glancing at Moses’ imitation of the pig, Elise raised an eyebrow before bursting into laughter. She giggled for a good half-minute before replying, “You know, somehow I don’t think anybody would want that sitting in their living room.” She thought for a moment, then tilted her head, “A museum, perhaps?” She knew the creature couldn’t possibly look like that, but it was fun to keep joking like this.

“What do I think it is?” She thought for a moment, and scrunched her nose with a mock grimace. “Well don’t laugh, but I think it would be fun to see a giant spider-thing, with super large mandibles that drool green slime. And it’s white and furry…so maybe ancients prayed to it to prevent avalanches…?”

A gust of wind flew toward their direction, and Elise lifted a hand to brush her bangs away from her face. She pulled her collar higher to keep her neck warm. As the wind died off, she continued, “Okay, that was lame. It would be funnier to see a big pig.”

The humor had faded a bit with the wind, so as she kept walking, Elise glanced calmly toward the side of the trail. There was still a great deal of gravel between the trail and the edge of the mountain, so Elise didn’t worry about falling off. The scenery was beautiful, though, and she wished for a moment that she had a camera. It would have been nice to take a picture of this peaceful scene.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

Moses pulled his coat around himself and kept walking. They'd come pretty far from the village now, he turned back a second to look, it looked small in the distance. Moses knew they had to keep going, but he had become increasingly hungry as the journey bore on. He hoped they would stop to eat soon. They came to a bend in the path that took them right as they turned it, the path began to fork. There was the turning to the right, which lead across the mountains and was well ridden, an obvious trade route. The left looked foreboding, it was a trail rather than a path or road, and lead amongst the heart of the mountains. Moses stopped to look. His major instinct was to go with the trail, however dangerous it looked. Moses noticed that at some parts the trail was little more than a ledge that clung to the mountain face. Luckily, from what Moses could see, the trail got a little wider and all around safer than the initial first two hundred meters or so.

"I think It's this way." Moses looked at Elise. "I know I have not seen an arch, but the description that was told to me said the place lay in the deeper parts of the mountains. My guts are telling me this is the way." Moses awaited her reply. He didn't like the look of the trail too much, but like he had said, his guts were telling him this was the way. Usually his guts lead him the right way. He had only ever been fooled by them once.

[Elise]

They walked a while in silence, paying attention to the ground and being careful not to slip over snow. Elise kept glancing around out of the habit of watching for sentients. By this time, they had travelled into the habitat of wild animals, and they needed to be alert. Moses stopped ahead to look down a fork in the road. Elise glanced down the paths as well. Comparing the two paths, any sane person would take the path on the right. It looked often travelled and didn’t look very dangerous. The one on the left, however, was a tiny path that snaked deeper over the mountains.

Of course, Moses would choose that one. Elise wasn’t afraid, and she merely mock-pouted and stared longingly at the alternative route. It was just so large and comfortable looking, but she knew just as well as Moses that neither of them would be here if they knew that the temple could be reached via main trade route.

“As wary as I am about trusting instincts, I think you’re right about this one. I kinda figured that the journey would be difficult anyway.” She smiled ruefully, waved him forward, and said, “Lets go then?”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

Moses nodded. "Alright." He was hesitant, it didn't look good. He stepped forward and walked, after a few meters the path began to get thinner. He kept his weigh leaned towards the face of the mountain. Soon he had to side step and place his fingers into hand-holds for extra support. Moses swallowed. He dared not speak or look down. He hated himself for choosing this path but it just had to be the right way. Soon the path began to widen again and soon became wide enough to walk singe file along. Moses still kept his weight to the side of the mountain. There was no rail or barricade of any description keeping him or anyone for that matter from falling. A bad gust of wind could send you toppling over the side in no time if you weren't careful.

So far Moses had made it okay, suddenly he cursed under his breath, he realised he hadn't paid any attention to Elise on her way over. He had not heard any cries of help so he doubted she was having trouble. He cursed himself for not making sure she was okay. He watched intently as she moved, ready at any moment to spring into action if she fell.

[Elise]

Elise stepped back to give Moses room as he went ahead on the trail to lead the way. The trail was so narrow and she worried that any misstep would send her tumbling over the edge. So as she followed Moses across the trail, Elise mimicked the ‘Vari and leaned towards the mountain as she walked. And when the trail went even narrower and forced her to turn to her side, Elise gulped and edged along the path in a painfully slow manner, grabbing parts of the mountain for security.

So she edged along the mountain with her eyes focused on her feet and the ground. She dare not speak to Moses or check if he’s still there, for she had to pay attention to her own movements. She supposed that he was okay, though, because she hadn’t heard any screams.

Finally after what seemed like a long time, the trail started becoming wide enough for them to walk normally, and as Elise finally took the courage to look away from the ground, she saw Moses watching over her. She smiled at him and was reassured by his care for her wellbeing. Elise stepped onto safer ground and leaned shakily against the wall. “That was…er…scary?” she laughed with relief.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

"Hahaha, I know! I'm even shaking a little." He lifted up his hand to show some faint signs of the shakes. "Hopefully we wont have to come back this way and we'll discover another route..." Moses wasn't sure if they would or not but after all he did say hopefully. Moses walked on a few more steps and sat down he stretched out his legs, his feet touched the edge. He began rummaging in his bag. He could feel the cold around him now. When he was climbing across the side of the mountain he had not felt the chill of the wind. His adrenalin and fear had kept the cold at bay. Now that he sat to relax he could feel the freezing air seeping back into his skin. "Lunch?"

Moses asked the question but did not wait for a reply. He took out his loaf and began tearing into it. It was one of those oval shaped loaves you get from the bakery. It contents were soft and white and were easy to swallow. The crust was hard and crispy and thick it felt like the meatier part of the meal. If you could call it a meal, it was a loaf of bread after all. He guzzled down some water he was thirstier than a fish in the desert. He began to eat slower and he leaned back and took a breath.

"You know, we'll probably have to sleep out in this. I have a feeling its going to get colder." He looked at her. She was too pretty for words. "Where do you come from?" He looked quizzically t her and awaited her reply.

[Elise]

“Yeah, let's find another route back next time. Or who knows...maybe we can find and train an anka.” She grinned impishly, knowing full well how impossible the suggestion was. She knew full well how intimidating those things were---she'd seen one almost crash a party in the Ao Coast.

When Moses opened his bag and began eating bread, Elise shrugged, pulled out a lunchbox, and took two sandwiches from it. Each was wrapped neatly in a sandwich bag. She took the second one and waved it toward Moses. He needed something healthier than just a loaf of bread, she thought. Elise always cared about being healthy. “Want one? It's ham, cheese, and lettuce.” She wasn't too concerned about her food, because she had two more sandwiches and plenty of nutrition bars. If he didn't want it, she'd just set it aside and eat her food. If he wanted it, she'd give it to him.

Biting into her sandwich, Elise enjoyed the sweet taste of bread and honey ham. She uncorked her water bottle and downed her first bite with a gulp of water. Halfway through her sandwich, Moses started talking again. She swallowed the bread before replying, “Yeah, I hope it's only for a night or two though. It's so cold. I'm from New York City,” she said, and realized that he might not know where it was. “It's on Earth.” Almost immediately, she wondered what he'd think about that. Elise has encountered a few people in Elysia who resented humans coming from Earth. They thought that those humans were intruding on their territory. Like ants.

Moses didn't seem like that kind of person though. Anyway, Elise was more interested with learning about Moses. “And where are you from?”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

He accepted the sandwich. "Thankyou." He put down his bread and gently chewed the sandwich. Its blend of flavours tasted like heaven after eating his loaf of bread. Moses thought it a little odd that she was from Earth. He was intruiged. Before he could ask her anymore questions she asked him where he was from. "Well I was born in New Alexandria. Grew up there. Its a good city. You would already know that though, what about your city, is it nice?"

Moses was intruiged about her past. He just hoped they didnt get into a discussion about his.

[Elise]

She was slightly surprised to hear that Moses had been born in New Alexandria. From what she knew about Elysia, most of the 'Vari came from all sorts of places in the world. Usually Paris, or Nirim City nowadays. However, Moses seemed to think that New Alexandria wasn't interesting enough to talk about, so she didn't inquire further.

Eyes lighting up as she thought of New York City, Elise grinned enthusiastically and replied, “I've lived in New York all my life. Well, up to now at least. It's one of the biggest cities in the countries I'm in, so there's always something going on there. It's the home of comic book superheroes...the area where there's always art, music, theater, festivals, conventions...you name it.” With a smile, she said, “Plenty of night clubs too.” She wasn't a big partier, but she went to quite a few during her college years.

Thinking of the city at night and of being at home, Elise felt nostalgic. It was nice to think about New York City while sitting so far away. She was happy about being able to talk about home to somebody again. Leaning back slightly, Elise swallowed the last bite of bread and tucked the sandwich bag into the front pocket of her backpack on the ground. “As you can see, I live in Elysia now. It's just as fun, although not in the same way, of course.”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

"I understand. So what do you do at clubs? are they like bars? I enjoy going to bars." He did seeing as it was his chief way of finding information on new treasures to find. He could see and feel the wave of nostalgia and the good feeling it gave her coming from her body. He smiled at her. "New York sounds like a good place, I'd like to go one day." Moses finished his sandwich. He packed up his bag, stood and flung it over his shoulder. He checked his belt and the hidden knife, he checked the buckles the strapped his sword to his belt were tight after he saw everything was well he turned to Elise. "Are you ready? It'll be dark in a few hours so we need to get as far down this road as possible." Moses looked ahead, the path seemed steady, it had a few dips and rises but it did not seem dangerous. He thought he could make out a cave about a mile or two away however he couldn't be sure as it may have just been a deep shadow. If it was they might set up camp there for the night.

With the wind and the cold it wasn't a surprise that the weather turned to snow. Moses stuck his tongue out to try and catch some snowflakes. He liked snow. it was the best thing about winter.

"You know I hate the cold but snow makes it worth it."

[Elise]

“Well there's usually a bar in the clubs for people to get drinks. Mostly it's just very loud music from speakers and people dancing in a color-lit room.” She glanced toward Moses when he spoke of going to New York. She wondered if he meant it, and if he'd ever been outside of Elysia. If he wanted to visit, she'd offer to take him there. If he wore shades, nobody would think him out of the ordinary, anyway.

When Moses began to check his supplies, Elise took that as a cue to get up as well. She slung the backpack onto her back and adjusted the straps so they wrapped tightly against her shoulders. “Yeah, let's start moving.” She also wanted to get as much of the road out of the way. Hopefully, they'd reach the temple early tomorrow, if not sooner.

As they started moving and the weather became cold, Elise felt something light fall onto her face. She wiped a hand across her cheek and realized that it was a cluster of snowflakes. She glanced toward Moses just in time to see him try to catch the snowflakes. She giggled and replied, “Yeah, it's beautiful.” She thought of all those snowball fights that she and Piper had when they were young. “You'll want to wrap up warmer later though.”

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

"Yeah, you're right. I'm not too bad at the moment though." He was lying through his teeth. He was freezing. However he felt pretty high in spirits and kept walking. He couldn't help it, the increasing amounts of snow were too tempting for him to handle. He bent down for a moment pretending to tie his shoelace. "Just go on ahead." he said to Elise. He snickered under his breath. As she passed he patted his snowball into a tight orb. He stood and swiftly threw the ball into the back of Elise's head. "MuHAHAHhahahAH!" His composure had turned mischievous and he stooped to grab another handful of snow.

hahahaha, your a riot Moses. Your so cool and sexy. Moses felt pretty happy with himself. Ah, the joys of playing with snow.

((Sorry for the short reply, and I hope the little God mod of you passing is okay >.<))

[Elise]

Elise didn’t think that Moses was dressed warm enough for this weather, but she kept her mouth shut. He said that he was fine at the moment, anyway. She watched as Moses bent down to tie his shoelace and maneuvered around him to become the lead. Not long after she passed him, something cold splat into the back of her head. The snowball could only have come from one person, so as she heard Moses laugh like a kid, she quickly bent her knees to the ground and yelled, “Ow!”

It was very cold, and she didn’t want the snow to melt in her hair. With a pained expression, Elise nursed the back of her head as if the snowball really hurt. She brushed a hand through her hair to get rid of the snow before it melted. If Moses was heartless enough to throw another snowball at her, she’d do her best to duck out of the way. Most guys weren't that heartless though, so she hoped that he'd be normal, walk over, crouch beside her, and ask if she was okay.

→ Piper's Boutique — the-butterfly.de — Kristen Bell

[Moses]

nice one Moses you complete clutz. Moses came over and put his arm around her. Though he had to stifle a laugh. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hurt you I was just kidding around." She seemed to want the snow out of her hair, Moses brushed some away for her. "I'm sorry" Moses was trying to read her emotion, e couldn't tell if she was annoyed at him or not. Moses took a hunch and decided she was.

As Moses was seeing to her, he thought he heard a noise. He couldn't pinpoint it though. The wind and the snow muffled most other sounds. Moses squinted Into the sky and round about. The cliffs were white now, covered in snow, the snow had become heavier and the wind harder. The sky was getting darker now and Moses reckoned their best bet for shelter would be the cave he spotted a good hour or so's walk from here. Moses shivered, he was freezing. His hands were numb and he began to shake with the cold. Still, he got some more clumps out of Elises hair, although the falling flakes just replaced them. "Damned, snow."